Multivers, Leveling Up in the World I Created

Chapter 438: 438 Dawn of the Dead 2

After shaking off the zombies, we stopped the car for a moment and caught our breath while having some snacks.

She tried on the slippers I had brought and looked satisfied.

"Wow, they fit perfectly. I guess we got lucky."

In fact, I had already scanned Jane’s body measurements, so I had picked out slippers that would fit her.

Of course, she had no way of knowing that.

"We should get you proper shoes as soon as possible. It’s hard to run fast in slippers like that."

"Yeah."

Whenever I had a chance, I taught her how to use the pistol again.

I explained the proper grip and aiming techniques, and even had her fire a few shots.

People handling firearms for the first time tend to have accidents, so even if it was a hassle, I needed to make sure she had the basics down.

Bang!

"Ugh... gunshots are louder than I thought?"

"Right? That’s why I told you to use it only as a last resort. The sound could attract more infected."

"I see."

After going through various things, we finally arrived at the Pasteur facility.

The facility was full of refugees who had fled the zombies, and the military was maintaining order and controlling them.

And given the situation, it seemed they weren’t confiscating personal firearms one by one.

Jane and I took the blankets, food, and various supplies the soldiers were handing out, and headed toward the tents.

On the way, we saw wounded people, seemingly bitten by zombies, being helped into the facility.

Jane’s face turned pale in an instant.

She asked me urgently.

"Jin, what do we do? Shouldn’t those people be quarantined immediately?"

"I think it’s already too late for that. It wasn’t just them; I saw quite a few people who had been bitten on the way in. Warning them now would only cause panic. And the families and companions of the infected won’t cooperate willingly. If we handle it wrong, the whole facility could descend into chaos."

In fact, not many people would willingly accept such news.

Especially if it involved their family.

And since it was still early, even people who looked fine would likely not believe us.

If we weren’t careful, we could end up being the ones quarantined.

With time running out, we absolutely had to avoid that situation.

There was nothing worse than that.

"Then... what should we do now?"

"Let’s leave here. This facility won’t last the night."

At that, Jane seemed lost in thought for a moment, then spoke to me.

"I still feel uneasy just leaving like this. At least we should warn the people in the nearby tents before we go."

I looked at the rows of tents and slowly nodded.

"Yeah. We should at least do that much."

"I’m glad. I thought you’d say no."

"I don’t want to leave with a bad feeling."

With that, Jane and I went to the nearest tents and cautiously warned them.

"Wha, what? Then you’re saying this place isn’t safe either!?"

"Shh, keep your voice down. If this spreads throughout the facility, panic will set in immediately. Then it will be hard even to get out."

"Th, I see... Understood. We’ll prepare to leave quickly too."

Some people accepted it well, while others treated us like we were crazy.

Still, we had delivered the warning.

Now the choice was theirs.

"Let’s go now."

"Okay..."

Jane looked reluctant to leave, but time was short, and she knew there was nothing more we could do.

Without another word, she quietly followed me.

Still, it wasn’t like we got nothing from the Pasteur facility.

When we said we were leaving to find family, the soldiers, perhaps sympathetic, packed various things into military backpacks for us.

What I liked most was not the contents, but the sturdy military backpack itself.

I hadn’t been able to get one at the gun shops, so this was a lucky break.

Jane also received a pair of military boots separately.

"Where to now?"

"I saw a motel on the way here. Let’s go there. We can rest for a day and think about what to do next tomorrow."

"Okay."

I had noticed that motel on the way to the Pasteur facility.

Maybe because it was close to the facility, everyone had left, and there was no one around.

Still, just in case, we thoroughly checked the motel for any signs of zombies upon arrival.

After confirming it was safe, we started going through the vending machines one by one.

There were only things like gum, condoms, chocolate bars, and drinks, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to stock up.

"Jin, the water’s still running."

"Really? That’s good. We can wash up."

We settled into the largest room in the motel, blocked the door and windows with furniture, and turned on the TV with the volume low to check the current situation.

On screen, the National Guard was engaged in fierce fighting with the zombies, and a police officer appeared to advise aiming for the head.

Since it was still the first day, they seemed to be reacting chaotically, without a proper grasp of the situation.

"Things are chaotic everywhere."

"Yeah."

As the sun began to set, we ate the combat rations we had brought from the facility and washed up quickly.

Because zombies and looters made it dangerous even to turn on the lights at night, it was best to do as much as possible while the sun was up.

When it got dark, Jane and I lay down on the bed to sleep, when suddenly her hand brushed against my groin.

"I saw you pick up condoms earlier. Luckily there’s water. I want to go all out while we can wash up."

"I picked them up just in case we might need them later. I never thought we’d use them right away. But are you sure?"

"So what? We don’t know when we might die. Might as well do what we want."

Jane was bolder than I expected.

I had no reason to refuse, so we enjoyed ourselves and fell asleep.

After a good night’s sleep, I woke up to find light streaming through the gaps in the barricaded furniture, indicating the sun was already up.

Jane was still asleep, probably tired, so I quietly got up and went to the window.

I carefully moved the furniture blocking the window and looked outside.

Fortunately, there was no sign of zombies or people coming to the motel.

Relieved, I immediately started preparing breakfast.

Preparing meant just opening some combat rations.

The rustling sound woke Jane up.

"Mmh... I slept well."

"Good morning. Let’s eat first."

"Okay."

While we were eating, we suddenly heard the sound of several vehicles passing by on the road near the motel.

We stopped eating and rushed to the window to look outside.

The vehicles seemed to be coming from the Pasteur facility.

Some were stained with blood, and even military vehicles were moving quickly, as if evacuating in a hurry.

It seemed trouble had indeed broken out at the facility.

Jane sighed and said.

"You were right to get out of that facility quickly."

"We should finish eating and leave quickly too. There were a lot of people there, so there will be a lot of infected too. And since we’re close to the facility, we can’t rule out the possibility of them coming this way."

"Then where should we go now?"

Jane asked, and I opened the backpack I had gotten from the soldiers and took out a map.

I pointed to a spot on it.

It was the Crossroads Mall, the main setting of the original.

"Let’s go to the Crossroads Mall. It’s on the outskirts of the city, and there’s a gun shop nearby, so there should be plenty of supplies. If we’re lucky, we might be able to stay there for a while."

"That sounds good, but isn’t it dangerous? A big mall might have people, and the city side will have a lot of infected..."

"Maybe, but we have a car. We can go check it out and just leave if it doesn’t look good."

Even after my persuasion, Jane still looked uneasy.

Heading into the city in this situation was a risky choice.

But Jane also seemed to have nowhere else to go, so she didn’t object.

With the destination set, Jane and I finished our meal and prepared to leave.

While Jane packed our things, I siphoned gasoline from nearby vehicles using a hose and transferred it to our car.

It was a pretty unpleasant task.

Without a pump, I had to suck the gas up through the hose by mouth, and the strong smell of gasoline filled my nose and threatened to get into my mouth.

’I’ll need to get a manual pump when we get to the mall.’

Once preparations were done, we got in the car and headed for the Crossroads Mall.

As we entered the city, zombies started chasing our car, even though we had taken the outskirts.

Grah!

Thump! Thwack!

"Th, this is dangerous, isn’t it?"

"Don’t worry! As long as we’re driving, they can’t catch us."

Finally, we arrived at the mall, but there were many zombies outside too.

So I circled the mall, looking for a way in.

Then I saw people on the roof holding a whiteboard that read ’Come to the back’ in large letters, waving it for us to see.

I quickly drove to the back of the mall.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Over here!!! Here!!!"

They were clearing the zombies from the roof just above the entrance so we could get in.

I quickly parked where they indicated, got out, and dealt with the zombies near the entrance.

Phut, phut, phut! Thud, thud!

"Jane, grab the backpacks and go first!"

"Okay!"

Once the zombies at the entrance were cleared, I told Jane to go ahead, then grabbed the LAMG I had slung over my back and opened fire on the approaching zombies.

Ratatatata!!!

Splat, splat, splat!!!

Even while firing wildly, thanks to my [Sniping] ability, almost all the shots hit their heads, so the zombies couldn’t get close.

"Stop firing and get inside!! Your girlfriend’s already in!!"

When the people on the roof shouted that, I stopped shooting, slung the LAMG back over my shoulder, and ran toward the back door of the mall where Jane had gone.

As soon as I pushed my way through the door, a black police officer who had been waiting quickly closed and locked it.

"You fought really well. Were you in special forces?"

"No. Shooting’s just a hobby. Anyway, thanks for letting us in."

"In times like this, we have to help each other survive. Anyway, welcome. I’m Kenneth."

"I’m Jin, and this is Jane. Nice to meet you."

The black police officer introduced himself and offered a handshake.

I shook his hand and greeted him lightly.

Then I followed Kenneth into the mall.

Unlike in the original, Kenneth’s expression looked quite bright.

I understood why after I got inside.

His original destination had been the Pasteur facility, because he had heard his brother was there.

He had tried to get there despite others’ warnings.

But when the survivors from the facility joined them and told him it had been overrun, he fell into despair.

Now, however, there was no sign of that.

"Brother, are you hurt?"

"Yeah, I’m fine."

"Oh, you’re the people who warned us! Brother, these are the people who told us that getting bitten meant infection."

"Really? Well, I should be thanking you. My brother’s alive because of you."

Unlike the original, there were now six more people in the mall besides the existing survivors.

All of them had left the Pasteur facility after hearing our warning and taken refuge here.

In effect, our words had changed the fate of several people.

And luckily, Kenneth’s brother was among them.

While talking with them, I started loading my magazines.

A survivor in military uniform asked me.

"I’ve never seen a gun like that. What is it?"

"I’m an engineer. I make things as a hobby. That gun’s one of them."

"Wow... isn’t that illegal?"

"It is, but so what? The world’s gone to hell."

"True... But could you spare us some ammunition? We had to leave in such a hurry we barely brought anything. Everyone else here is in the same boat."

"Really? Sure."

I took the backpack Jane was carrying and opened it.

I took out the ammunition boxes the soldiers had given us when we left the Pasteur facility and set them down in front of them.

"Phew, that’s a relief. Ammo was running low, and everyone was worried."

The people sighed in relief and grabbed the ammunition.

Then they sat down and started loading their magazines.

The metallic sounds echoed through the mall.

To get a better picture of the mall’s situation, I asked the others.

"Is there enough food here?"

A blonde man who looked like a regular office worker answered.

"It’s a mall, so there’s plenty. Lots of alcohol too. And the supermarket has its own water filtration system, so we have easy access to water."

"Really? That’s good."

This was probably Michael.

I recognized him from the movie.

He also looked very kind.

Just then, a blonde woman behind me spoke.

"I’ll show you to your room first. By the way, are you two a couple? It’s okay if you share a room, right?"

She asked, and I looked at Jane.

Jane nodded without hesitation.

"Yes."

Seeing that, the woman seemed to understand our situation and chuckled.

"Ah, I see. You two got close while fleeing from the infected, huh? You make a handsome couple. I’ll show you the way. Oh, and I’m a nurse. If you’re hurt or sick, let me know anytime."

This woman was Anna, the protagonist of the original.

She was a married woman, but in person, she looked young and lively, not at all like it.

Anna took us to the employee break room on the third floor.

It wasn’t big, but there were a few beds, and the bathroom was close.

It was a shame there was no window, but that also meant we didn’t have to worry about being seen from outside.

"Sorry. I’d like to give you a better room, but all the good spots are taken. And the stores are all glass-fronted or open, which wouldn’t be comfortable for a couple..."

"It’s fine. This is enough. But could we get some more blankets?"

"Yeah, I’ll bring some."

When Anna brought the blankets, Jane and I started organizing the break room.

"This place looks pretty good. The people seem nice too. I’m glad we found this place."

"Yeah, I’m glad too. But..."

When I trailed off, Jane asked.

"Is there a problem?"

"There are too many infected nearby. That worries me. Let’s just rest today and check things out tomorrow."

"Okay."